The custom controls - Shadow Rack Docs

The WING's custom controls run the rack: four knobs and eight buttons on the desk work on the channel you pick with SEL.

On the full-size WING, Shadow Rack puts its own three pages on the desk's custom controls: FX (the plugin you're on), NAV (channels, plugins, presets) and SHOW (what you need mid-song). The four knobs and eight buttons work on the channel you pick - in Shadow Rack or with SEL on the desk. Names and values show on the desk, and whatever is on lights up. You don't assign anything: it sets itself up.

Switching it on since 0.4#

It's on by default. The switch is in Setup > MIDI (or View > MIDI...), under Wing control.

With ON, Shadow Rack does everything by itself:

Custom Controls pages 1, 2 and 3 become FX, NAV and SHOW. They're written over whatever was there, and written again within about 3 seconds whenever the desk shows something else on them - a show loaded, the desk restarted. Keep your own assignments on the other pages.
The desk's Custom Controls MIDI is set to USB, both ways: the knobs and buttons reach the Mac, and the Mac lights the buttons. The WING's USB cable carries it - the same one as the audio.
The first time, the toast says Shadow Rack is on the Wing's Custom Controls: pages FX 1, NAV 2, SHOW 3.

The three lamps tell you where it stands:

Lamp	Good	Not yet
THE WING	Connected	Not found on the network - see the overview
USB MIDI	the desk's MIDI port	No Wing port - USB cable?
PAGES	FX 1 NAV 2 SHOW 3	Waiting for the Wing, Putting them on the Wing...

If the desk won't take the pages, a red line says The Wing doesn't take Shadow Rack's pages; Shadow Rack keeps trying every 30 seconds.

OFF puts the lights out first, then leaves the custom controls alone and ignores them - use it when you want those pages for something else.

How the knobs behave#

They never jump. Shadow Rack only uses how far you turn, not where the knob is, so grabbing a knob doesn't snap the value. It keeps going past the ends of the desk knob's travel.
Steps: 1/127 of the range per step; with FINE on, ten times finer. On/off parameters flip with the direction; choices step one at a time.
Parameters that change a plugin's delay are never put on a knob (turning one mid-show would put the channel out of time).

Two presses#

Buttons that can't be taken back with one finger ask first: INSERT, DELETE, LOAD, and PANIC when switching it on. The first press shows the name with a question mark on the desk (DELETE?, lit), the second press within 3 seconds does it. Pick another channel or plugin in between and it's forgotten.

Page 1 - FX#

The plugin you're on: the selected plugin of the selected channel, or its first plugin. The knobs turn what you programmed for this plugin, four at a time; an EQ with bands (Pro-Q 3 / 4, F6) follows the band you touch.

Column	Knob	Upper button	Lower button
1	Parameter 1 of the bank, e.g. THRESH -18.0dB	< + the previous bank's name: bank down	< + the previous plugin's name: go to it
2	Parameter 2	Next bank's name + >: bank up	Next plugin's name + >: go to it
3	Parameter 3	FINE - ten times finer knobs (lit while on)	WINDOW - opens / docks the plugin's own window (lit while open)
4	Parameter 4	BYPASS the plugin (lit while bypassed)	TAP + the tempo, e.g. TAP 120.0

A plugin nobody programmed has nothing on its knobs. With no plugin in the channel knob 1 says NO PLUGIN; a plugin that didn't load says NOT LOADED.

Page 2 - NAV#

Each column is one thing: its knob picks, its buttons act on what it picked. Undo and redo sit at the bottom corners.

Column	Knob	Upper button	Lower button
1 Channel	CH + name: scroll through the channels, the selection follows at once	CH BYPASS - the whole channel (lit while bypassed)	UNDO
2 Plugin	PLUG + name: scroll through the channel's plugins	BYPASS the plugin (lit while bypassed)	WINDOW (lit while open)
3 Add	ADD + name: scroll through your plugin list	INSERT - press twice: adds the shown plugin after the current one	DELETE - press twice: removes the current plugin
4 Preset	PRESET + name (or #5): scroll through the plugin's own programs	LOAD - press twice: loads the shown preset	REDO

Loading a preset fades the channel out and back for the moment the plugin changes, so it doesn't click. LOAD is only active when the shown preset isn't the one already loaded.

Page 3 - SHOW#

What you reach for during a song. The knobs are the channel's New York sends.

Column	Knob	Upper button	Lower button
1	New York send 1, e.g. Vox Lead -6.5dB	Send 1 on / off (lit while on)	CH BYPASS - or MORE 1/2 on a New York bus
2	New York send 2	Send 2 on / off	SPEECH (lit while on)
3	New York send 3	Send 3 on / off	PANIC (lit while on) - press twice to switch on
4	New York send 4	Send 4 on / off	TAP + tempo

Send knobs move 0.5 dB per step (0.1 dB with FINE on, set on the FX page), down to -inf. A channel without New York sends shows NO NY on knob 1.
Selected a New York bus? The knobs are what each member channel sends into it, four at a time; MORE 1/2 pages through when there are more than four.

SPEECH, PANIC, TAP, UNDO#

SPEECH - for talking between songs: bypasses every time-based plugin in the rack (reverbs, delays) and switches off every New York send. Press it again and exactly what it switched comes back - nothing you had off yourself is switched on. Toasts: SPEECH: reverbs, delays and New York are off / SPEECH off: everything as it was.
PANIC - the same as BYPASS ALL: every channel plays without its plugins (PANIC: every channel plays without its plugins). On asks twice; off happens at once.
TAP - tap tempo, the same as the T key; tempo-synced delays and modulation follow (tap tempo).
UNDO / REDO - the app's undo and redo, the same as ⌘Z.

Lights and names on the desk#

Every knob shows its label and value (THRESH -18.0dB), every button its label - up to 16 and 15 characters.
A button that's on is lit, the way the desk shows it.
The colour light of each column shows the selected channel's colour.
For a few seconds after the pages are written the desk lights buttons by itself; Shadow Rack never takes those for presses, and sends its own lights again a few times so they settle right.